Agency Feature: Design Foundry

Design Foundry offer clients the full spectrum of advertising, design and digital experiences that are driven by thoughtful communication strategies. All members of our team are practicing designers, copywriters or web developers. They work independently or collaboratively to craft impactful campaigns that are tailored to stand out and also interact directly with clients. DF, founded by Mukund Venkatraman and Anita Mahadevan, started with this unique structure to provide clients a seamless interaction devoid of Chinese walls. This gives clients a ringside understanding of their campaigns and of our creative process. It reflects our passion, conviction and personal commitment to the brands we serve.

Our team composition is exciting for the experiences each person brings to the table. From illustration and digital art, to PR, publishing or editorial design, everyone has their own unique skills that fuel their design thinking.

What’s in the name?

Design Foundry was born to build impactful campaigns that meet the needs of the brands with their audiences, and in their markets. A Foundry casts metal, but for us we cast ideas and, more specifically, strategic ideas. Hence, the name.

What we do?

The brands dictate the services they need to fill their marketing communication requirements. Our work includes, and is not confined to, branding, strategy, environment design, packaging, websites, digital and social experiences and advertising. We have more than a decade worth of experience in luxury and retail segments.

Mukund started his first company fresh out of college and has never looked back. Entrepreneurship is a way of life for him and design is in his DNA. His partner Anita, who had worked in PR and marketing, joined his endeavour to fulfil a long-held dream of theirs to build a world class design agency.

How we evolve?
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One thing we always believe in is that “If design forgets people, people will forget design.” This is an integral part of our value system and one that drives our work. It is what helps us constantly evolve.

Social responsibility in social media

For social media to thrive, it needs to be socially responsible. Otherwise, it is just a short-sighted tool that will eat itself. Rule of thumb for social campaigns should be to be sensitive to those who are inside or outside your marketing segments. Deploy communication thoughtfully.

Need of the hour

Platforms need to make the fine print bolder, more transparent and not so difficult to discover. Social media platforms need to actively empower their users with information about their data usage so that they can take a call on its availability to marketeers. This will help build trust.

They work with us

We, as a team, have over 10 years of experience in building and nourishing our client portfolio. We have worked/work with clients across different sectors including multiple Hyatt brands across India, Vummidi Bangaru Jewellers, JW Marriott Pune, Virtuous Retail Chennai, Renaissance, NewGen Knowledge Works, Tennssor Holdings (Maldives), and many more. We also have a publishing house called The Paper Project and run an online art magazine called Artsatva (artsatva.com) to engage and support the art community.

Industry as we foresee

From an industry perspective, Social Media has rewired the way we think and communicate. Audiences are slowly but steadily becoming more aware of social media ‘marketing’ in the midst of their social media ‘conversations’. This increases the pressure on brands to tread gently, more strategically, sensitively, and find their meaningfulness in the social lives of their audiences, in order to become imperative. It is also more relevant than ever in the current climate, as one of Google’s Corporate Codes stated, “Don’t be Evil.”

A day without internet will be quite fruitful, honestly. We would either indulge ourselves in workshops or making illustrations the traditional way: with pen and paper. Or you could find us working on huge canvases with paints and cans, making installations for our own premises.